A. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to the safe disposal of hypodermic needles and, more particularly, to a hand-held container adapted for disposal of hypodermic syringe needles.
B. Description Of The Related Art
Hypodermic needles are widely used in medical examination and treatment facilities for a variety of purposes including, for example, drawing of blood and other bodily fluids, administration of medication, and the like. Most commonly, these needles are individually prepackaged, pre-sterilized, and discarded after a single use. Such disposable needles obviate the need for time consuming re-sterilization and are now used almost exclusively in most major hospitals.
Unfortunately, disposal of such needles has proved problematic. Naked needles may not be placed into a general trash receptacle without compromising the safety of janitorial staff. Moreover, reinsertion of the contaminated needle into its original sheath poses risks that the needle will be mistaken for an unused needle and inadvertently reused. In addition, needles disposed by either of these methods are readily accessible to unauthorized users. Obviously, it is desirable to dispose of the used hypodermic needles in a manner which safely avoids injury to medical personnel caused by inadvertent needle puncture or other contact with a contaminated used needle. Moreover, it is highly desirable to dispose of the used needles in a manner which minimizes risk of unauthorized reuse, for example, by users of illicit drugs. It is also desirable to separate the used hypodermic needle from the syringe barrel in a manner that requires no human contact with the needle itself.
In the past, a variety of devices and systems have been proposed for use in disposing of used hypodermic needles. Examples of such structures can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,667, issued to Petacino, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,648, issued to Harris, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,538, issued to Gianni; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,375,849, issued to Hanifl. While such devices have been somewhat useful in providing for safe disposal of contaminated needles, significant room for improvement remains. For example, certain of the devices are mechanically complicated, expensive to manufacture, and not readily disposable. Others are cumbersome and cannot be easily carried or transported from one patient's bedside to another, for example, in a pocket or apron. Moreover, most of these devices require that the needle be inserted "head-on" or "sharp end first," an orientation that is inconvenient, awkward, and significantly increases the user's risk of accidental puncture.
The problems enumerated in the foregoing are not intended to be exhaustive but rather are among many which tend to impair the effectiveness of previously known hypodermic needle disposal devices. Other noteworthy problems may also exist; however, those presented above should be sufficient to demonstrate that needle disposal devices appearing in the art have not been altogether satisfactory.